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"the 1920s [were] regarded as a boisterous era of prosperity, fast cars, jazz, speakeasies, and wild youth."

"The 1920s in the United States, called “roaring” because of the exuberant, freewheeling popular culture of the decade. The Roaring Twenties was a time when many people defied Prohibition, indulged in new styles of dancing and dressing, and rejected many traditional moral standards."

Culture and Events

The Prohibition

" The ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution–which banned the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors–ushered in a period in American history known as Prohibition.

The increase of the illegal production and sale of liquor (known as “bootlegging”), the proliferation of speakeasies (illegal drinking spots) and the accompanying rise in gang violence and other crimes led to waning support for Prohibition by the end of the 1920s."

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"American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) rose to prominence as a chronicler of the jazz age. Born in St. Paul, Minn., Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton University to join the U.S. Army. The success of his first novel, “This Side of Paradise” (1920), made him an instant celebrity. His third novel, “The Great Gatsby” (1925), was highly regarded"

The Great Gatsby documents the lifestyle of the twenties and views the American dream with a cautious eye. The glamour and beauty of the this era is exemplified through dance, music, and Gatsby's lavish parties. This book is an American classic.

Harlem Renaissance

"The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in NYC as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. [This] period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art."

Louis Armstrong — "The music that percolated in and then boomed out of Harlem in the 1920s was jazz, often played at speakeasies offering illegal liquor. Jazz became a great draw for not only Harlem residents, but outside white audiences also."

"The first commercial radio station in the U.S., Pittsburgh’s KDKA, hit the airwaves in 1920; three years later there were more than 500 stations in the nation. By the end of the 1920s, there were radios in more than 12 million households."

"People also went to the movies: Historians estimate that, by the end of the decades, three-quarters of the American population visited a movie theater every week."

The Automobile

"Low prices (the Ford Model T cost just $260 in 1924) and generous credit made cars affordable luxuries at the beginning of the decade; by the end, they were practically necessities. In 1929 there was one car on the road for every five Americans. Meanwhile, an economy of automobiles was born: Businesses like service stations and motels sprang up to meet drivers’ needs."

Baseball

"Two words describe why the 1920s stake a claim to baseball’s golden age – Babe Ruth. The man had stadiums (some could say cathedrals) built to either house his home runs or for him to hit them out. "

"The Negro Leagues – starting in 1920, the National Negro Leagues provided an opportunity for some of the greatest talent the game has never seen. Rube Foster’s business sense provided a sound foundation for the next 30 years for African-Americans and Latin greats to play in the US."

Fashion & Flapper Girls

Fashion

• Below knee length drop waist dresses with a loose, straight fit.
• Beaded evening dresses inspired by “flappers”
• Mary Jane or T-strap heels.
• Casual sport golf knickers, argyle socks, blouse and tie.
• Cocoon fur coats and fringe wraps.
• Cloche hats and short bobbed hairstyles.

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"Flappers of the 1920s were young women known for their energetic freedom, embracing a lifestyle viewed by many at the time as outrageous, immoral or downright dangerous. Now considered the first generation of independent American women, flappers pushed barriers in economic, political and sexual freedom for women."

The New Woman

"In August 1920, women’s independence took another step forward with the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. And in the early 1920s, Margaret Sanger made strides in providing contraception to women, sparking a wave of women’s rights to birth control."

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A Cultural "Civil War"
These conflicts–what one historian has called a “cultural Civil War” between city-dwellers and small-town residents, Protestants and Catholics, blacks and whites, “New Women” and advocates of old-fashioned family values–are perhaps the most important part of the story of the Roaring Twenties.

Springfield in 1920

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Downtown Springfield

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Springfield in 1930